Biden: Kelly's win shows 'political price' for opposing gun control

By Reid J. Epstein

02/27/13 12:25 PM EST

Vice President Biden said Illinois voters who chose Robin Kelly as the Democratic congressional nominee told the nation there will be “a moral price as well as a political price to pay for inaction” on gun control.

Kelly, who beat more than a dozen other Chicago-area candidates after an infusion of ad spending on her behalf by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, won a victory that shows the American people are behind the White House gun control push, Biden said.

Kelly's chief primary opponent in the special election to replace Jesse Jackson Jr. was former Rep. Debbie Halvorson, who opposed some elements of the White House gun control push and was backed by the NRA.

“Yesterday, the people of the Second Congressional District of Illinois spoke,” Biden said at the meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General.

“For the first time since Newtown, voters sent a clear and unequivocal signal. The voters chose among a field of qualified candidates a candidate who spoke forcefully for national gun safety legislation.

"The voters sent a message last night, not just to the NRA but to politicians all around the country by electing Robin Kelly, who stood up and stood strong for gun safety, totally consistent with our Second Amendment rights. They sent a message, the message is there will be a moral price as well as a political price to pay for inaction. This is not 1994. People know too much.”